JP2000315203A - Document management system and document managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document managing method capable of automatically relating related documents including the latest related document to individual documents as intended. SOLUTION: In the document managing method capable of relating one document with the other document and managing them, in the case that a step S2: a message to ask for an instruction of a relating condition to relate the related document to a document to be registered is displayed, a step 3: the relating condition is instructed by an operating part by a user when the document is registered, a step S4: inputted relating condition information is acquired by a system control part, the acquired relating condition information is registered in a relating table as document attribute information of the document and after that, the related document is automatically related according to the relating condition information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document management system and a document management method, such as a dedicated document management device and various information processing devices, and more particularly, to automatically associating related documents including the latest related documents. The present invention relates to a document management system and a document management method that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A document management system as described above includes a storage device such as a hard disk device or a readable / writable optical disk device for storing a large amount of document data of a large amount of documents, and registers the document to be stored. The document data and document attribute information are stored in the storage device, and a desired document is searched as needed, and the document is displayed or printed for reference. In such a document management system, in recent years, as a method of finding a document to be referred to, in addition to a method of searching for a desired document by designating search conditions that are generally performed, when registering a document, A method has been provided in which a document to be referred can be easily referred to by associating a related document with a related document and registering the related document. For example, the user selects a document to be associated from the document list and associates it. However, in such a conventional association method, there is an annoyance that the user has to perform a work for the association. In order to solve such a problem, an inter-document link processing system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-62658 obtains operation contents of a user and contents of a document access request and extracts them from the contents. A method is provided for recording usage history information for each user based on such information and automatically associating documents with each other in accordance with the usage history information and an association condition rule registered in advance.

[0003]

However, the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-62658 does not disclose what the association condition rule is, and records the association of related documents as a main purpose. Since the association between documents is performed according to the usage history information that has not been done, the association is not necessarily performed as intended, and it is difficult to associate the truly related documents for each document. There is also a problem that related documents cannot be related. An object of the present invention is to provide a document management method that solves the above-described problems of the related art and that can automatically associate a related document including the latest related document with an individual document as intended. .

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document management system capable of managing one document by associating another document with another document. Associating condition information for instructing associating condition information for associating documents with each other, associating condition registering means for registering the associating condition information specified by the associating condition indicating device as document attribute information of a document to be registered, Document association means for automatically associating related documents according to the association condition information registered by the condition registration means. According to the second aspect of the present invention, in a document management method capable of managing one document by associating another document with the document, at the time of registering the document, the user instructs and registers the association condition information for associating another document. The association condition information is registered as document attribute information to be added to a document, and then a related document is automatically associated according to the association condition information. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which association condition information associated with user information is registered in association with each registered document. In the invention according to claim 4,
In the invention according to claim 3, when an association condition registration is instructed in a state where one registered document is opened, a document code of the document and user information of a user operating at that time are acquired. In this method, the association condition information specified at that time is registered in association with the document code and the user information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second, third or fourth aspect of the present invention, the association condition information is referred to when referring to the document after the association condition information is associated with the document. Related documents are automatically associated according to. According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, when instructing associating condition information for associating another document at the time of document registration, the invention as the document attribute information to be added to the registered document. The association condition information is registered, and thereafter, the related documents are automatically associated according to the association condition information. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the association condition information associated with the user information is registered in association with each registered document. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, when the association condition registration is instructed in a state where one registered document is opened, the document code of the document and the usage being operated at that time. The user information of the user is acquired, and the association condition information specified at that time is registered in association with the document code and the user information. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second, third or fourth aspect of the invention, when the document is referred to after the association condition information is associated with the document, the related document is referred to in accordance with the association condition information. Automatically associated.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document management apparatus according to each embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the document management apparatus of this embodiment includes a system control unit 1 having a memory having a program built therein and a CPU operating in accordance with the program, and managing and controlling the entire document management apparatus, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. An operation unit 2, a display unit 3 for displaying messages, document data and document attribute information, a RAM 4 for temporarily storing various data, a hard disk device or a readable / writable optical disk device, etc. A storage device (hereinafter abbreviated as a storage device) 5, a scanner 6 for reading an image on a document, a plotter 7 for outputting document data or the like on a recording sheet, a document registered from a personal computer connected to a network such as a LAN, or the like. The communication control unit 8 for receiving data, and similarly, the document data to be registered. Floppy for and inputs (R) and a like disk device 9. The system control unit 1
, The operation unit 2 and the display unit 3 constitute an association condition instructing unit for instructing association condition information for associating another document at the time of document registration, and the system control unit 1 performs the instruction by the association condition instructing unit. It also operates as an association condition registration unit that registers the registered association condition information as document attribute information of a document to be registered, and a document association unit that automatically associates a related document according to the registered association condition information. In the document management system and the document management method of the present invention using the document management apparatus having such a configuration, a plurality of users register, search, and reference documents. For example, at the time of document registration, a document is created by the system control unit 1 which also operates as a word processing unit by using the operation unit 2 and the scanner 6 or the communication control unit 8.
A document to be registered by inputting document data via the floppy disk device 9 or the like is taken into the document management device, and the operation unit 2 is operated to register the document. Or,
The registration command and the document data to be registered are received via the network and the communication control unit 8 to register the document. At the time of document registration, the user is instructed to specify association condition information for associating another document, and the association condition information is registered as document attribute information to be added to the document to be registered. Thus, when one document is opened and displayed, the related document associated with the document A can be referred to very easily as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an operation flow at the time of document registration according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation at the time of document registration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, document attributes such as a document name and other document attributes 1 to n (for example, keywords) are added to the already registered documents. First, as described above, the user takes in the document to be registered into the document management device. Then, the user operates the operation unit 2 to instruct document registration (step S1). Then, when associating the related document with the document to be registered, the system control unit 1 causes the display unit 3 to display a message requesting the instruction of the associating condition, for example, "Please indicate the associating condition" (step S2). Alternatively, “character string or document attribute 1 included in the document name of the document to be associated as the association condition
To m (m is a number from 1 to n). "And a screen as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, a symbol K is a cursor indicating the input position at this time. Thus, the user instructs (inputs) the association condition using the operation unit 2 (step S3). For example, if the association condition is that the document attribute 1 includes the character “color”, “m:” in the example shown in FIG.
"1" is input to the right of "", and "color" is input to the right of "the character string in the attribute column". Then, the system control unit 1 acquires the input association condition information,
The acquired association condition information is registered as document attribute information of the document in an association table as shown in FIG. 6 (step S4). The document number (document code) shown in FIG. 6 is assigned by the system control unit 1 at the time of registration. In FIG. 6, document number 2 corresponds to the above-described example, and the meaning of this association information is “document including a character string“ color ”in document attribute 1”.

At the time of referring to a document, as shown in the operation flow of FIG. 7, first, when one document is opened (see FIG. 2) (step S11) and displayed, the user performs, for example, an operation. The displayed related document is instructed by clicking the displayed “related document” button with a mouse or the like constituting the unit 2 (step S12). Then, the system control unit 1 acquires the document number of the currently opened document (step S13), and acquires the association information corresponding to the document number from the association table (step S14). In the case of document number 2, for example, a document attribute table as shown in FIG. 4 is searched according to the acquired association information, and a character string "color" is included in the field (column) of document attribute 1. Document, ie, the document name of the related document is acquired (step S1).
Five). Further, the system controller 1 displays the acquired document name of the related document as shown in FIG. 2 (step S1).
6). Thus, according to this embodiment, the related document including the latest related document can be automatically and individually set to the individual document, without manually associating the document with the document number or the document name of the related document. Can be associated with

In the second embodiment of the present invention, after a document is registered, a user who can refer to the registered document designates association condition information for associating the document, and uses the associated condition information for the registered document. It is possible to register association condition information for each user. This allows each user to:
When one document is opened and displayed, as shown in FIG. 8, by instructing a “related document” button or a “personal related document” button, a related document associated with the document A by the document registrant is displayed. In addition, it is possible to refer to a personal related document associated with the document reference person who is not the document registrant very easily. Note that the “register related document” button shown in FIG. 8 is used when registering association condition information for associating the individual related document as described later. FIG. 9 illustrates an operation flow when registering the association condition information according to the second embodiment. The operation of this embodiment when registering the association condition information will be described below with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, document attributes such as a document name and other document attributes 1 ... n (for example, keywords) are added to the registered document and registered. As shown in FIG. 9, in this flowchart, the process starts from a state in which the document (one document) is open (step S21). In such a state,
The user, for example, clicks a displayed “related document registration” button to instruct registration of association condition information for associating a personal related document (step S22). Then, the system control unit 1 sets, for example, as the association condition, the character string or the document attribute 1 to m included in the document name.
(Please enter a character string included between (m is a number from 1 to n)) "and a screen as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. In FIG. 5, a symbol K is a cursor indicating the input position at this time. Thus, the user instructs (inputs) the association condition using the operation unit 2 (step S23). For example, if the association condition is to include the character "color" in the document attribute 1, in the example shown in FIG. 5, enter "1" to the right of "m:", and enter "1. "Color" is input to the right of the "character string in the field". Then, the system control unit 1 acquires the input association condition information, and uses the acquired association information as the document attribute information of the currently opened document, the document number of the document and the setting (logged-in) at the start of the operation (login). It is associated with the user information (user number) and registered in a personal reference document association table as shown in FIG. 10 (step S24).

At the time of document reference, as shown in the operation flow of FIG. 11, first, when one document is opened (see FIG. 8) (step S31) and displayed, the operation unit 2 is configured. The user, for example, clicks the displayed "personal related document" button with the mouse or the like to instruct the display of the personal related document (step S32). Then, the system control unit 1 determines the document number (document code) of the currently opened document and the user information of the user who is operating at that time (such as the logged-in user number).
Is acquired (step S33), and association information corresponding to the document number and the user information is acquired from the individual related document association table (step S34). Then, for example, in the case of the document number 1 and the user number 1, the document attribute table as shown in FIG. 4 is searched according to the acquired association information, and "color" is entered in the field (column) of the document attribute 1. A document containing a character string, that is, a document name of a personal related document, for example, is acquired (step S35). Further, the system controller 1 displays the acquired document name of the personal related document as shown in FIG. 8 (step S36). Thus, according to this embodiment, similar to the first embodiment, the related document including the latest related document can be created without manually associating the document number or the document name of the related document with each document. It is possible to automatically associate each document with another document, or to register a unique association condition in a document other than the document registered by the user and associate and refer to a desired related document. Note that the registration of the own association condition is not limited to when the document is opened as described above. However, if the registration is performed when the document is opened, the document number of the document and the user can be registered. You do not need to enter information to register your own association conditions.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention,
According to the first and second aspects of the invention, when associating condition information for associating another document at the time of document registration, the associating condition information is registered as document attribute information to be added to the document to be registered. Since the related documents are automatically associated with each other in accordance with the association condition information, the related documents including the latest related document can be automatically associated with each document as intended. Also,
According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the association condition information associated with the user information is registered in association with each registered document. A user can register his or her own association condition and associate and reference a desired related document. According to the fourth aspect of the invention,
In the described invention, when an association condition registration is instructed in a state where one registered document is opened, a document code of the document and user information of a user who is operating at that time are obtained, Since the instructed association condition information is registered in association with the document code and the user information, the effect of the invention described in claim 3 can be realized, and the operation for that can be simplified. Claim 5
According to the invention described in claim 2, in the invention described in claim 2, claim 3, or claim 4, when the document is referred to after the association condition information is associated with the document, the related document is automatically generated according to the association condition information. Since it is associated,
The effects of the invention described in claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4 can be realized, and more recent related documents can be linked.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a document management apparatus according to each embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a document management device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a data configuration diagram of a main part of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a screen view of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another data configuration diagram of a main part of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is another operation flowchart of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a document management device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of the document management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a data configuration diagram of a main part of a document management apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is another operation flowchart of the document management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 System control part 2 Operation part 3 Display part 4 RAM 5 External storage device 7 Plotter 8 Communication control part 9 Floppy disk device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A document management system that can manage one document by associating another document with the document. In the document management system, at the time of document registration, associating condition instruction means for indicating associating condition information for associating another document, and the associating condition Associating condition registering means for registering the associating condition information designated by the instructing means as document attribute information of the document to be registered; document associating means for automatically associating related documents according to the associating condition information registered by the associating condition registering means; A document management system comprising: 2. A document management method capable of managing one document by associating another document with the document. At the time of registering the document, the user instructs association condition information for associating another document, and adds the document to the document to be registered. A document management method, wherein the association condition information is registered as attribute information, and thereafter, a related document is automatically associated according to the association condition information. 3. The document management method according to claim 2, wherein
A document management method characterized by registering association condition information associated with user information in association with each registered document. 4. The document management method according to claim 3, wherein
When the association condition registration is instructed in a state where one registered document is opened, the document code of the document and the user information of the user operating at that time are obtained, and the association condition designated at that time is obtained. A document management method, wherein information is registered in association with the document code and user information. 5. The document management method according to claim 2, wherein the related document is automatically created in accordance with the association condition information when referring to the document after the association condition information is associated with the document. A document management method characterized by associating with a document.